Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Primary and Secondary Passaggi
When many voice experts refer to the "passaggio", they are commenting on the last bridge before entering the high voice; e,f, and g. This concept is applied for roughly all their lower or higher voiced singers. I was taught in my vocal pedagogy class, that there are two passaggi, a primary and secondary passaggio. I have found it interesting that the relationship could actually have some bearing on the concepts of developing the voice and is representative of the way the voice really works. It has brought me to what I think are interesting conclusions. For instance, how to dependably tell whether a student is a tenor or a baritone, or soprano or alto. Many singers after years are still wondering about whether they are a this (low) or a that (high) vocally. Understanding the passaggi in the voice can completely draw definte and applicable lines of determining the voice part or fach of a given singer.
To make application you have to accept the concept of the thyro-arytenoids as behaving like a vibrating string; having nodes, and harmonic interplay based on the frequency or pitch and its mass. With the help of the crico-thyroids, our voices are capable of producing all pitches in our 3 to 5 octave ranges. In light of this, every voice has natural weak points based on the various sizes of a person's thoraxic and pharyngeal cavities and other oddly shaped spaces that make up the interior of the body of a singer. This in combination of the individual's vocal cords, and the particular shape and thickness of the each cord, add to this the varieties as to the varying lengths of peoples necks, how tall or how long or short waist-ed, how low might ones larynx seat, the size of tongue etc. For instance, the width of the cheek must affect the interior dimensions of the pharyngeal spaces. All of these variations make up the individual voice of ones particular whole body. Based on these variances, and in combination with the size and thickness of the vocal chords, the voice will develop around its own string behavior and harmonics, causing a middle voiced pitch to develop in such a way that it will become the lower passaggio; naturally weak pitch that behaves in an unpredictable way due to its behavior as a node on a string (not to be confused with the vocal malady, an example of the node I reference is the point on a string where violinist or guitarist gently rests their finger to produce the super high harmonic series of the instrument. I think this also has bearing on why expert singers are able to shift octaves with such speed and accuracy.
If you are a baritone, and this note is b flat, you are a bass-baritone, or a mezzo-soprano if female. One whole step higher and you have spinto tenore, and soprano dramatica, both exhibiting a break at a c sharp in the middle. This application is obvious. A flat; contralto, or basso profundo, A natural; lyric bass, and alto, B flat; bass-baritone, dramatic mezzo soprano, B natural; mezzo or baritone, C; lyric baritone, lyric mezzo, C sharp; spinto soprano/tenor, or dramatic (some may believe their is a distinction between the two), D Lyric Soprano/Tenor, D; E flat; Coloratura/ Leggiero, and so forth, we have all varieties of coloraturi.
This is all very tedious to attempt writing or, reading, for anyone I am sure, but its dependability is very helpful as teachers search out the proper voice classification for their students. Especially if you teach young singers. The primary passaggio will not reveal itself if diaphragmatic pressure is used in the approach. If the note is overblown it will create a pressed harmonic that negatively impacts the development of the vocal cords buy distorting the natural and undeveloped registration already presenting itself in that adult or adolescent singer. This is the case with most singers as it is a note low enough to dependably hit and it is used as a leverage point for the upper voice. Abdominal breath pressure disguises the note that is an individuals lower passaggio. The extra pressure builds an overly thickened part of the vocal cords and becomes a mixed registration, as coined by the late Cornelius Reid, God rest his soul. Once properly exposed and isolated, and while the student learns to not crescendo to ascend the scale, you will begin to notice that the perfect fourths above and below the lower passagio, have similar distortion, a note that is fuzzy, that the student usually presses this "easy to get to" note to try to overcome its natural dullness, (which is why diaphragmatic pressure is so sinister, it combines with the extra effort of the student to build and strengthen the voice in a mal-coordinated production (knots). The incorrect gesture becomes crystallized if you will, and will required serious and tedious work to overcome. Even with no pressure on the voice the primary break is difficult for singers to keep on pitch, it is a little slippery in both ways, it either leans upward or squats down (the crack and the fearful press that follows) You will find these notes in perfect fourths throughout the range. And they all behave largely the same way. The half step above the break is breathy or falsetto(y), the half step below is too chesty and weighty. These passaggi can be found all the way through the range, top to bottom.
To develop these weak notes I use spoken sounds as glottal strokes (no diaphragmatic support at all, as if spoken casually). A student of mine will sing the letters of the vowel series. Singing as if speaking the vowels as letters a, e,i o, and u. What singing vowel sounds are these? Day, may, spade, see me the eve, Lee. My by Thai spy, go know stove grove,you Sue,too blue. The natural huskiness of the primary passaggio begins to grow amber and make the voice drip deep dark honey, because its middle note is vibrating intensely while not being pressed by the far too accessible and breath pressure of the over zealous singers.
This perfect equilibrium allows the vocal cords to vibrate like a string in the balance of poised physics, and is optimized because of the dynamic play of tension and relaxation as the vocal folds vibrate in the breath pressure loop of something similar to a cat's purr. This is when you can know what proper breath support is, the Italians called it appoggiare You just lean gently on and pulse this vibrating tone loop that is in balance between your vocal cords and the top of the diaphragm. Wild power practically without having to stir the body. All registers are accessible with perfect ease and variance of timbres as one learns that a singer doesn't have to get louder to go higher. You simply excite the harmonics. Then the overtone harmonics of the voice begin to present themselves and strengthen by adding perceptible harmonics of octaves, dominants, the thirds, drawn off the fundamental pitch. Rather like the variable registrations of a pipe organ with massive power, comfortably achieved, breadth, volume, and perfect intonation.
Working these concepts out will give you full control of your voice allowing you to play the voice like a trumpet in three octaves on any vowel sound (no modification whatsoever). You will also have dazzling vocal power; a very clear light tone to ppp while still being clearly understood and present in any hall; agility; and vocal freshness after performing.
If you get through all of this, your a camper.
To make application you have to accept the concept of the thyro-arytenoids as behaving like a vibrating string; having nodes, and harmonic interplay based on the frequency or pitch and its mass. With the help of the crico-thyroids, our voices are capable of producing all pitches in our 3 to 5 octave ranges. In light of this, every voice has natural weak points based on the various sizes of a person's thoraxic and pharyngeal cavities and other oddly shaped spaces that make up the interior of the body of a singer. This in combination of the individual's vocal cords, and the particular shape and thickness of the each cord, add to this the varieties as to the varying lengths of peoples necks, how tall or how long or short waist-ed, how low might ones larynx seat, the size of tongue etc. For instance, the width of the cheek must affect the interior dimensions of the pharyngeal spaces. All of these variations make up the individual voice of ones particular whole body. Based on these variances, and in combination with the size and thickness of the vocal chords, the voice will develop around its own string behavior and harmonics, causing a middle voiced pitch to develop in such a way that it will become the lower passaggio; naturally weak pitch that behaves in an unpredictable way due to its behavior as a node on a string (not to be confused with the vocal malady, an example of the node I reference is the point on a string where violinist or guitarist gently rests their finger to produce the super high harmonic series of the instrument. I think this also has bearing on why expert singers are able to shift octaves with such speed and accuracy.
If you are a baritone, and this note is b flat, you are a bass-baritone, or a mezzo-soprano if female. One whole step higher and you have spinto tenore, and soprano dramatica, both exhibiting a break at a c sharp in the middle. This application is obvious. A flat; contralto, or basso profundo, A natural; lyric bass, and alto, B flat; bass-baritone, dramatic mezzo soprano, B natural; mezzo or baritone, C; lyric baritone, lyric mezzo, C sharp; spinto soprano/tenor, or dramatic (some may believe their is a distinction between the two), D Lyric Soprano/Tenor, D; E flat; Coloratura/ Leggiero, and so forth, we have all varieties of coloraturi.
This is all very tedious to attempt writing or, reading, for anyone I am sure, but its dependability is very helpful as teachers search out the proper voice classification for their students. Especially if you teach young singers. The primary passaggio will not reveal itself if diaphragmatic pressure is used in the approach. If the note is overblown it will create a pressed harmonic that negatively impacts the development of the vocal cords buy distorting the natural and undeveloped registration already presenting itself in that adult or adolescent singer. This is the case with most singers as it is a note low enough to dependably hit and it is used as a leverage point for the upper voice. Abdominal breath pressure disguises the note that is an individuals lower passaggio. The extra pressure builds an overly thickened part of the vocal cords and becomes a mixed registration, as coined by the late Cornelius Reid, God rest his soul. Once properly exposed and isolated, and while the student learns to not crescendo to ascend the scale, you will begin to notice that the perfect fourths above and below the lower passagio, have similar distortion, a note that is fuzzy, that the student usually presses this "easy to get to" note to try to overcome its natural dullness, (which is why diaphragmatic pressure is so sinister, it combines with the extra effort of the student to build and strengthen the voice in a mal-coordinated production (knots). The incorrect gesture becomes crystallized if you will, and will required serious and tedious work to overcome. Even with no pressure on the voice the primary break is difficult for singers to keep on pitch, it is a little slippery in both ways, it either leans upward or squats down (the crack and the fearful press that follows) You will find these notes in perfect fourths throughout the range. And they all behave largely the same way. The half step above the break is breathy or falsetto(y), the half step below is too chesty and weighty. These passaggi can be found all the way through the range, top to bottom.
To develop these weak notes I use spoken sounds as glottal strokes (no diaphragmatic support at all, as if spoken casually). A student of mine will sing the letters of the vowel series. Singing as if speaking the vowels as letters a, e,i o, and u. What singing vowel sounds are these? Day, may, spade, see me the eve, Lee. My by Thai spy, go know stove grove,you Sue,too blue. The natural huskiness of the primary passaggio begins to grow amber and make the voice drip deep dark honey, because its middle note is vibrating intensely while not being pressed by the far too accessible and breath pressure of the over zealous singers.
This perfect equilibrium allows the vocal cords to vibrate like a string in the balance of poised physics, and is optimized because of the dynamic play of tension and relaxation as the vocal folds vibrate in the breath pressure loop of something similar to a cat's purr. This is when you can know what proper breath support is, the Italians called it appoggiare You just lean gently on and pulse this vibrating tone loop that is in balance between your vocal cords and the top of the diaphragm. Wild power practically without having to stir the body. All registers are accessible with perfect ease and variance of timbres as one learns that a singer doesn't have to get louder to go higher. You simply excite the harmonics. Then the overtone harmonics of the voice begin to present themselves and strengthen by adding perceptible harmonics of octaves, dominants, the thirds, drawn off the fundamental pitch. Rather like the variable registrations of a pipe organ with massive power, comfortably achieved, breadth, volume, and perfect intonation.
Working these concepts out will give you full control of your voice allowing you to play the voice like a trumpet in three octaves on any vowel sound (no modification whatsoever). You will also have dazzling vocal power; a very clear light tone to ppp while still being clearly understood and present in any hall; agility; and vocal freshness after performing.
If you get through all of this, your a camper.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Monday, April 5, 2010
Understanding Double Formant Vowels
The primary understanding that double formant vowels are derived from the single formant vowels is fundamental for one to achieve their successful exploitation in developing the perfect tone. An [u] is present in the [i]. This assertion that [i] and [u] are primarily the same sound is evident in French and German where this relationship is demonstrated commonly. For example the [y] sounds used in French tu, du, and the German u umlaut; English only uses this sound in the pronunciation of the letter q, and words like cute, or puke. Therefore, the use of this sound in English is fairly rare by comparison.
When we teach the [y] sound, we tell the singers to form and [u] and to say [i], juxtaposing the two sounds to create the [y]. When we tell a singer to introduce the [i], the singer will raise the tongue and excite the acoustic phenomenon of the double-formants. So, the employment of the tongue must be embraced if a singer wants to learn how to sing [i], [I], [e], [ɛ], and [æ]. The laryngeal position of the [u] must be maintained. Approaching the bright vowels in this manner will give the singer the ability to warm all bright vowels and brighten all warm vowels without disturbing the steady employment of benoulli's principle. This physical reality gives me the impression that the teacher or singer who introduced the concept of chiaro-oscuro
to the vernacular of singing was dead on. Try out these vowels if you are sure you can eliminate abdominal leverage before the tone, and know how maintain the laryngeal position of a non-lipped [u] sound ("coke bottle [u]" as Cornelius Reid has coined it).
Say these sounds in a speaking tone with quick gestures of utterance, freeze while silencing the sound before initializing the final consonant. Then, note the position of the tongue.
Keep checking the [i] to see if you can say [u] from the same laryngeal position by dropping the tongue for the [u], and visa-versa for the [i].
[i] has the highest tongue position
[ɛ] is medial
[a] is at the bottom, flat and slightly grooved
Some teachers teach the tongue to be in one position, and will argue that a flat tongue is tense because it suggests the employment of the milo-hyoid. This is wrong. The tongue has to be flat for [a].
To the contrary and perhaps more appropriately, any method that calls for the support of the tone with diaphragmatic leverage before the onset of sound will create tongue tension (milo-hyoid). It very likely will impede the development of these vowels sounds as it to some extent locks the tongue's position and introduces the detrimental gesture of stabilizing the larynx with the employment of the milo-hyoid (swallowing) muscle. Hence, support gestures impede the free movement of the tongue, making it problematic for the student to learn to sing pure vowel sounds in the middle voice. Remember Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Singers shut the door on the use of double formant vowels by assuming that common support techniques are correct and irrefutable. You can ask anybody how to sing, and they will tell you that "you have to sing from the diaphragm". If this approach to singing is correct and in that it is so well understood to so many, why are there so few "very good" singers? And why don't we have the quality singing today that was prevalent in the mid-twentieth century?
To the contrary and perhaps more appropriately, any method that calls for the support of the tone with diaphragmatic leverage before the onset of sound will create tongue tension (milo-hyoid). It very likely will impede the development of these vowels sounds as it to some extent locks the tongue's position and introduces the detrimental gesture of stabilizing the larynx with the employment of the milo-hyoid (swallowing) muscle. Hence, support gestures impede the free movement of the tongue, making it problematic for the student to learn to sing pure vowel sounds in the middle voice. Remember Newton's third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Singers shut the door on the use of double formant vowels by assuming that common support techniques are correct and irrefutable. You can ask anybody how to sing, and they will tell you that "you have to sing from the diaphragm". If this approach to singing is correct and in that it is so well understood to so many, why are there so few "very good" singers? And why don't we have the quality singing today that was prevalent in the mid-twentieth century?
Give up support rhetoric and learn how to use the tongue like a rudder in the stream of flowing tone. Develop all of your vowels inside of this stream. This way you can teach yourself a tone that is equally responsive to warmth as it is to brightness; as the concept of effort and leverage dissolve, and acoustical realities, and vocal ease emerge.
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Leap to Double Formant Vowels
Double formant vowels are rich in resonance and therefore "fundamental". They make the voice easy to tune, and give the carrying power to allow the voice to fill any acoustic space. When used correctly, they cultivate in the singer's voice the ability to rise clearly and easily above the orchestra in all the registers and volumes. They allow for delicate articulation and give the singers a presence and energy in the delivery that literally allow the voice to fly off the stage and fill any crevice in the space. This poise and precision gives unique clarity to the relationship of diction and vowel energy to such an extent that the language is consistently and clearly understood. The many benefits of learning how to use these vowel sounds properly are easily accessible if the singer is able to make some conceptual leaps in the approach and embrace the power of these acoustic phenomena that exist in the timeless physics of our natural world.
Newton's 3rd law states that for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. What kind of physics are we trying to engage when we sing? Are we calling on principles of aero-dynamics, acoustic energy, or gravity resistance. The human throat has so many functions; swallowing, protecting the lungs from foreign objects, sound, and the assertion of strength. One of my teachers referred to the throat as a valve, allowing air-flow freely in both directions with the ability to close or open to any degree based on our needs for a given moment. I like to think of this miraculous organ as having two basic functions; let air out to exhale or make sounds, and hold air in in moments of extreme physicality allowing us to assert our strength and will against gravity.
The voice is ruled by the principles of tone: actuator, vibrato, resonator. This is not an idea or a conceptual image, it is the way tones behave in the physical dimensions of our world.
Actuator: Bernoulli's principle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli%27s_principle)
Vibrator: Vocal Cords (thyro-arytenoids)
Resonator: Vowels (tuned spaces that reflect no noise, only pure tone)
The perfect balance of these three principles will develop the singers awareness of acoustic ease and will greatly increase the dynamic energy of the vocal cords, resulting in the in the even strengthening of the thyro-arytenoid muscle in all of its potential registers. It does this in the vacuum that eliminating physical leverage allows.
In any untrained voice (and many trained), a student will present with these principles out of balance, either minimally in the case of "natural singers", or grossly in the cases of singers who feverishly try to imitate singing sounds and the way singers tend to "think" it feels to make the sound rich and exciting. If a singer gets louder to go up the scale, they misunderstand the function of Bernoulli's principle and by singing in this way, they will only increase the divide between registers where their voice is strong and the registers where their voice is weak. When we speak the voice can go high or low, loud or soft, because we don't have the expressive burden of sustaining pitches. The little blips of vocal energy in the speaking voice reveal clearly the efficiency of human phonation and the simplicity that utterance can reveal about singing. Convention, and imitation has largely lead most singers in the wrong direction as singers try to imitate the leverage they think a sound has, or they are taught, when they are initially introduced to diaphragmatic support. Here's the leap. Singing from the "diaphragm" and "support" are grossly misunderstood, and leads many singers to their ultimate vocal demise. If one attempts to engage the function of double-formant vowels without eliminating the pre-leverage of abdominal and diaphragmatic involvement, it will eat you voice up, kill your middle register, and shut off the upper third of your potential vocal range. The books say the span of common human phonation is three octaves. If we look for evidence of this in the speaking voice, we will notice that all three octaves are mixed and have characteristics of both ends of the vocal range in any give sound; clarity (resonance) and ease (flow and warmth). Just listen to the way children use there voices when they are at play. If singers can get a handle on the very present energy the physical world offers us in acoustics and aero-dynamics we can fly. Do you think that the music of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini were written for singers who couldn't sing it? Did the original singers of Verdi's operas sing only until they were in there mid-thirties? Why is it different now?
Take the leap! It is the key to using the double-formant vowels to teach the singer how to stay "on the cords", forgive me, but if you are frustrated as a singer or teacher and if you don't know what the expression "on the cords" means or feels like, you are on on the wrong track. Don't be afraid, if you can abandon the idea that the voice is fragile and the conventional rhetoric of support, placement, and raising of the soft palate, your best singing and teaching is right in front of you.
http://www.josephshore.com/Hines/interview.htm
Newton's 3rd law states that for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. What kind of physics are we trying to engage when we sing? Are we calling on principles of aero-dynamics, acoustic energy, or gravity resistance. The human throat has so many functions; swallowing, protecting the lungs from foreign objects, sound, and the assertion of strength. One of my teachers referred to the throat as a valve, allowing air-flow freely in both directions with the ability to close or open to any degree based on our needs for a given moment. I like to think of this miraculous organ as having two basic functions; let air out to exhale or make sounds, and hold air in in moments of extreme physicality allowing us to assert our strength and will against gravity.
The voice is ruled by the principles of tone: actuator, vibrato, resonator. This is not an idea or a conceptual image, it is the way tones behave in the physical dimensions of our world.
Actuator: Bernoulli's principle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli%27s_principle)
Vibrator: Vocal Cords (thyro-arytenoids)
Resonator: Vowels (tuned spaces that reflect no noise, only pure tone)
The perfect balance of these three principles will develop the singers awareness of acoustic ease and will greatly increase the dynamic energy of the vocal cords, resulting in the in the even strengthening of the thyro-arytenoid muscle in all of its potential registers. It does this in the vacuum that eliminating physical leverage allows.
In any untrained voice (and many trained), a student will present with these principles out of balance, either minimally in the case of "natural singers", or grossly in the cases of singers who feverishly try to imitate singing sounds and the way singers tend to "think" it feels to make the sound rich and exciting. If a singer gets louder to go up the scale, they misunderstand the function of Bernoulli's principle and by singing in this way, they will only increase the divide between registers where their voice is strong and the registers where their voice is weak. When we speak the voice can go high or low, loud or soft, because we don't have the expressive burden of sustaining pitches. The little blips of vocal energy in the speaking voice reveal clearly the efficiency of human phonation and the simplicity that utterance can reveal about singing. Convention, and imitation has largely lead most singers in the wrong direction as singers try to imitate the leverage they think a sound has, or they are taught, when they are initially introduced to diaphragmatic support. Here's the leap. Singing from the "diaphragm" and "support" are grossly misunderstood, and leads many singers to their ultimate vocal demise. If one attempts to engage the function of double-formant vowels without eliminating the pre-leverage of abdominal and diaphragmatic involvement, it will eat you voice up, kill your middle register, and shut off the upper third of your potential vocal range. The books say the span of common human phonation is three octaves. If we look for evidence of this in the speaking voice, we will notice that all three octaves are mixed and have characteristics of both ends of the vocal range in any give sound; clarity (resonance) and ease (flow and warmth). Just listen to the way children use there voices when they are at play. If singers can get a handle on the very present energy the physical world offers us in acoustics and aero-dynamics we can fly. Do you think that the music of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini were written for singers who couldn't sing it? Did the original singers of Verdi's operas sing only until they were in there mid-thirties? Why is it different now?
Take the leap! It is the key to using the double-formant vowels to teach the singer how to stay "on the cords", forgive me, but if you are frustrated as a singer or teacher and if you don't know what the expression "on the cords" means or feels like, you are on on the wrong track. Don't be afraid, if you can abandon the idea that the voice is fragile and the conventional rhetoric of support, placement, and raising of the soft palate, your best singing and teaching is right in front of you.
http://www.josephshore.com/Hines/interview.htm
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